The engine of Caleb's transit sedan died with a harsh cough. He left the key in the ignition.
The Defense Force testing facility pierced the skyline ahead. The massive steel complex stretched for miles under towering stadium lights. Recruits funneled through the main gates in large herds.
Caleb pushed his car door open. The rusted hinges screamed. He stepped out into the freezing air and pulled his faded jacket tight around his shoulders.
A teenager sat on the concrete parking barrier next to the car. He wore an oversized track jacket that swallowed his narrow shoulders. His knees bounced rapidly against the pavement. He clicked a basic mechanical stopwatch open and shut in a frantic rhythm.
"You will break the spring," Caleb said.
The kid fumbled the stopwatch. He snatched it out of the air before it hit the ground.
"I know," the kid said. "I just need to keep my hands busy. If I stop moving, I think I will throw up. I am Hiro. First time here?"
"Yeah," Caleb said. He leaned against the hood of his car. "First time."
Hiro nodded quickly and clicked the stopwatch again.
"I memorized the entire Defense Force physical testing matrix," Hiro said. "The required sprint velocity is exactly eight meters per second just to pass the first gate. I mapped out the optimal foot placement for the obstacle course based on leaked structural blueprints."
Caleb looked down at his own calloused hands wrapped in cheap medical tape. He exhaled a long breath. A cloud of white vapor rose in the freezing air.
"I heard the casualty rate in the physical bracket is pushing forty percent this year," Hiro whispered.
Caleb pushed off the hood of the car. "Let's go find out."
The heavy steel doors ground open. A sprawling stadium field stretched out under harsh floodlights.
Racks of matte-black Runner suits hung suspended from automated tracks along the perimeter. The wind kicked up dust, rattling the empty armor plates against their metal frames.
"Find a bay and strap in," the head instructor's voice boomed over the PA system.
Caleb approached the nearest open rack. The synthetic muscle fibers of the G-X4552 surplus suit hung lifeless and heavy. He pulled the reinforced gauntlets over his taped knuckles. The interlocking chest plates snapped shut over his ribs. A scratched metal tag on the collar read R. Torres.
A mechanical whir hummed near the base of his skull. Thick biometric needles deployed from the inner lining. They punched directly into the nerve clusters along his spine.
A violent heat erupted in Caleb's chest. The dormant parasite thrashed against his ribcage, rejecting the foreign hardware. His muscles locked. The synthetic fibers of the suit fought back, trying to force a connection with his altered biology.
Caleb choked on a breath, gripping the metal rack to stay upright. Bone scraped against bone inside his chest. The searing heat slowly receded back into his marrow. The military HUD booted up inside his visor.
"The suits are reading your muscles," the instructor announced over the speakers. "They gauge your physical limit and assign an Unleashed Combat Power percentage. High output means you move like a monster. Low output means you are just a fragile human in a heavy suit."
The stadium's massive digital leaderboard flickered to life. Names and percentages scrolled rapidly as recruits synced with their hardware.
Hiro stood two bays down. His armor locked into place with a hiss of pressurized air.
[Hiro Okuda 14%]
Hiro let out a shaky sigh of relief. He bounced on his toes, testing the minor hydraulic assistance in his knees.
Heavy boot steps crunched the gravel.
A girl bypassed the surplus racks entirely. She wore a pristine white and crimson prototype suit. It lacked the bulky cables of the standard gear.
The board flashed a brilliant gold.
[Kikaru Mitsurugi 72%]
Whispers erupted across the field. Recruits pointed at the board. Kikaru adjusted her gauntlet and completely ignored the stares.
A diagnostic ping echoed in Caleb's helmet. The suit finished measuring his biological limits.
A dull beep sounded from the overhead board.
[Caleb Mercer 1.2%]
Laughter rippled across the nearby bays. A recruit in red-trimmed armor pointed at the board.
"One percent?" the recruit scoffed. "The fibers are barely active."
Caleb flexed his fingers inside the gauntlets. The synthetic muscle lining hummed with a faint vibration. It carried the dense plating and kept him from collapsing under the bulk. That was the absolute limit. The heavy armor offered zero kinetic boost.
"Sync complete," the instructor barked. "Broadcast feeds are live. The guilds and public investors are watching. We break into one-on-one combat brackets."
Camera drones detached from the stadium canopy. A dozen metallic spheres circled Kikaru, their lenses whirring rapidly to capture every angle.
A single battered drone hovered down to eye level in front of Caleb. His internal viewer count appeared in the corner of his visor. It climbed to five, dropped to three, and stuck permanently at one.
The recruit in the red-trimmed armor jogged past. He glanced at the lonely camera drone.
"One viewer?" the recruit asked. "Your mom tuning in?"
Caleb adjusted his heavy shoulder plate. "Something like that."
Blue code scrambled across Caleb's visor. The military interface dissolved into corrupted static. Deep purple text hijacked the screen.
[SYSTEM UPDATE] [BROADCAST RIGHTS PURCHASED BY USER ???] [PUBLIC CHAT DISABLED. MODE LOCKED] [??? : Let the public watch the others. Your stream belongs to me.]
Caleb kept his breathing even. The encrypted network had followed him straight into the military hardware.
"I request an Evaluation Duel."
Kikaru marched straight past the designated sparring circles. The camera drones parted for her. She stopped exactly ten feet from Caleb and raised her gauntlet.
The proctor frowned and consulted a data-pad. "Applicant Mitsurugi. You are assigned to Bracket Four."
"My grandfather requires live-combat data on how this prototype handles unpredictable targets," Kikaru stated. She kept her eyes locked on Caleb. "A perfect written score demands physical verification. I challenge Applicant 4013."
The proctor glanced at the gold insignia etched into her shoulder plate. He pressed two fingers to his comms unit and listened. He gave a stiff nod.
"Bracket altered. Clear a twenty-meter ring."
The recruits scrambled backward to form a wide circle in the dirt. Hiro threw Caleb a panicked look before retreating.
Caleb stood alone in the center of the ring. He shifted his weight. The surplus suit dragged heavily against his shoulders.
Kikaru drew a training blade from her back rig. The dull steel hummed with kinetic energy.
"You read a lot of books," Kikaru said. She tapped her helmet. A polarized visor snapped down to hide her face. "Let's see if those documentaries taught you how to take a hit."
Caleb unclipped a tactical baton from his thigh rack. He flicked his wrist. The steel extended with a sharp clack. The heavy wood dragged in his grip.
"Find a better target," Caleb said. "My suit is barely carrying its own bulk. I will be moving in slow motion."
Kikaru lowered her stance. "Afraid of ruining your perfect written score?"
Purple text flared across his visor.
[??? : She thinks her bloodline makes her special. I despise her arrogance.]
[NEW QUEST: Break her pride.]
[Reward: Combat Stimulant] [Failure: I will punish you endlessly.]
Caleb stared through the glowing code. He adjusted his grip on the heavy baton.
"A physical loss does not retroactively alter a test grade," Caleb said. "Did the tutors skip basic logic?"
"Begin," the proctor barked.
Kikaru's suit thrusters ignited. She crossed the dirt in a rush of heat and exhaust.